Autumn News from the BRA
London’s 32 municipal boroughs seem to resemble at times one large construction site and our area of Belgravia is no exception. We have four large construction projects ongoing with completion due between 2019 and 2021. There are
1. The Pantechnicon building in Motcomb St which is being developed into a mix of retain and restaurants and bars. Completion hopefully due in early 2019. There have been the inevitable holdups which have exasperated traffic movements in and out of this site which has upset many local residents living next to or nearby Motcomb Street.
2. The Peninsula hotel building at Hyde Park Corner and its junction with Grosvenor Crescent. Well managed and community minded this development is constantly reaching out to the local community to let them know and see the progress on site.
3. The Berkeley Hotel alterations and additions. Ongoing work and again regular meetings are held with the site managers/operators who also convene with the BRA
4. The Cleveland clinic (a USA private hospital group) on Grosvenor Place a few hundred yards down Grosvenor Place from the Peninsula building. Again there have been over runs of concrete deliveries extending to beyond standard working hours due to traffic problems but in the contractors favour the large development is ongoing and the main problems encountered is the large volume of heavy goods vehicles coming and going through our local narrow streets and more especially Chester Mews.
Other changing faces in Belgravia
Nick Jones has been appointed as Head of Property Management for Grosvenor. This sees a youthful professional taking up this role and we wish him good fortune in managing all Grosvenor’s property
assets in Belgravia and Mayfair. He has a team of 25 or so Property Managers and management surveyors under his control, each with responsibility for a specific portfolio of the Estate. The basis for this change is that local residents can then have a point of contract in that given area A list of their names and addresses is also included. We have also posted these detail on our website.
Mews Resurfacing
Grosvenor continue with the process of upgrading the mews surfaces and installing fibre broadband but legal technicalities around the consultation process are holding up the process and thus works . In order to bring about and commence construction works they are considering making an application to the First Tier Tribunal for Boscobel Place a 4 month Tribunal process for Boscobel Place .Once that process has been concluded then it is proposed to resurface Eaton Terrace Mews and Boscobel Place is completed with the likely contractor being Conway’s. The cost of the works will depend on a variety of factors but a proportion will be paid for by Grosvenor out of their Hoardings fund. The balance will be collected by the residents. In some cases Grosvenor may consider spreading the charge over quarterly instalments
Empty Retail Units
The former Ebury Wine bar is currently undergoing asbestos removal works . The likely new tenant will be of a similar nature to the former user but a lot of work needs to be carried out to upgrade and modernise the interior of the building.
Directly opposite and also on the corner of Elizabeth St and Ebury St is the old Nat West bank building and that together with the building directly next door which is in a sorry state of repair will need to be repaired before any new retail tenants can be found. Consideration and consultation by Grosvenor with the occupiers of the residential units above will also have to be undertaken so it is unlikely that anything soon will be appearing in those two particular buildings. The old bank building will continue to be used for temporarily pop up shops
Newson’s Yard in Pimlico Road and the site of Travis Perkins will are likely to continue to trade into 2019. We have already expressed our views on not being happy with the loss of this well used facility. In future local tradesmen will need to go to Battersea for equivalent products which in the overall round are a great shame. A recent attempt to have the buildings listed failed.
The old Best Foods development on the corner of Pimlico Rd and Bourne St is now almost completed and the building is a great improvement offering more amenity services to the local community albeit it will be more of the same designer led operations in link with Grosvenor’s 20 year Vision for the future in making Pimlico rd a destination for craftsmanship and interior design.
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